>KaszeK Ventures led a Series A investment in Agilis, an Argentine consumer lending platform, with participation from QED Investors and an unnamed investor. This is KaszeK’s first deal from Fund 3, and QED's first investment in Argentina.

> Ideas & Capital made an undisclosed investment in DEPORPRIVÉ, a Mexican flash sales platform for sports merchandise and apparel.

DEPORPRIVÉ previously participated in 500 Startups LatAm and received a US$50k convertible note. CEO Ben Roques says it’s the company’s only previous funding since launching in 2016— “all the growth comes from our operation and our negative working capital business model.”

>BR Startups, managed by MSW Capital, will invest up to R$800k in Brazilian edtech VOA Educação.

>#EU General Catalyst and payments unicorn Stripe led a US$40m Series B in Rapyd, a London-based global fintech a global fintech-as-a-service platform based in London, with participation from Target Global, IGNIA and others.

>Cabify secured US$70m in structured financing from IDB Invest and Blue Like an Orange Sustainable Capital to support responsible expansion within the region. This is IDB Invest’s first deal supporting digital business models that are impacting the urban transport sector:

The financing will allow Cabify to reinforce its activity in favor of its smart cities agenda, reducing mobility costs and improving the lives of citizens. The operation, the first carried out by IDB Invest with a digital urban mobility business model company and structured through innovative financial products, will allow the IDB Group to play an important role in the evolution of the urban mobility sector in Latin America and the Caribbean.

>Oikocredit made a US$3.3m investment in Laudex, a provider of loans to students in higher education in Mexico.

>Kviv Ventures led a R$5m investment in Nutrebem, a platform to monitor children’s nutrition at school. Confrapar and Barn Investmentos invested previously. The company has raised R$15m to date.

>#NEWS TechCrunch’s former editor Eric Eldon returned to launch Extra Crunch, a subscription product with deep-dives on leading startups, resources for entrepreneurs, calls with the TechCrunch staff, and more. Try it free.

>🌎 #GLOBAL CNN: “Human rights defenders are calling on Apple and Google to remove the Saudi government app Absher from its platforms, saying that it allows Saudi men to track women under their sponsorship.”

Amazon’s advertising business is worth about $125 billion, more than Nike or IBM, Morgan Stanley estimates.... In addition to knowing what people buy, Amazon also knows where people live, because they provide delivery addresses, and which credit cards they use. It knows how old their children are from their baby registries, and who has a cold, right now, from cough syrup ordered for two-hour delivery.

Amazon brings in over US$2b per quarter in advertising revenue but is still a distant #3 behind Google and Facebook.

>#BRAVEAmazon chief Jeff Bezos published a Medium post about an attempted extortion by the National Inquirer: No thank you, Mr Pecker.

[The AMLO administration] is planning a digital payments system run and built by the central bank that will allow Mexicans to make and receive payments through their smartphones free of charge. A pilot roll-out for the platform, known as CoDi, is expected by March.

>Google launched its Launchpad Accelerator in Mexico. Startups across Latin America, in any sector, ideally between Seed and Series A funding, are welcome to apply for the three-month program that starts in April in CDMX. Foco: Cloud, AI/ML, Android y temas de negocio, UX y liderazgo. Apply here.

>MetLife Foundation and Visa, with partners Accion and the IFC, are launching Inclusive Fintech 50 to elevate early-stage fintechs addressing financial inclusion. Early-stage fintechs can apply by March 8.

> IDB Lab launched Bootcamps for Tech Fans, an open call for proposals to select the most innovative Ready-to-Work Bootcamp models that work with vulnerable populations and technology in Latin America and the Caribbean. Winners will be considered to implement a project of up to US$1.5m in financing. Apply here.

> Viva Airpartnered with ProColombia and ACI Medellín on an aviation innovation lab.

> Redpoint eventures welcomes former Cubo CEO Flavio Pripas as the fund’s first Corporate Venture Officer, and Rodrigo Baer as a new partner.

The U.S. podcasting market is still in its infancy because content creators are using basic monetization techniques, while Chinese podcasters is experimenting with gamification, coupons, and limited-time memberships.

Back then, TV executives still scoffed at streaming services like Netflix, arguing that no serious person would swap out their cable package for entertainment over the Internet. Today, even they will admit that so-called cord-cutters are upending their business.

>Morning Brew: After deriding bitcoin as a “fraud” back in 2017, Dimon’s JPMorgan will now become the first major US bank to introduce its own cryptocurrency for real-life use, CNBC scooped. The coin—dubbed JPM Coin (because Bananacoin was taken)—will represent $1 in value and begin testing “in a few months".